Sudheer Babu, Kartikeya apologise for collaborating with YouTuber who ‘joked’ about child abuse: ‘Feel so disgusted…’

Well-known YouTuber Praneeth Hanumanthu has been called out for making a ‘joke’ on pedophilia. Sai Dharam Tej, Manchu Manoj and Nara Rohith also called him out.

After Sai Dharam Tej, Manchu Manoj and Nara Rohith called out well-known YouTuber Praneeth Hanumantu for ‘joking’ about pedophilia, Kartikeya and Sudheer Babu apologise for collaborating with him in the past. The YouTuber had alluded to an inappropriate relationship between a father and daughter, and the actors talked about how they felt.

Karthikeya, Sudheer Babu apologise

After sharing a statement on how content should not be about ‘pulling each other down’ but instead focused on ‘growing and helping others grow’ Kartikeya addressed the fact that he collaborated with Praneeth in the past. He also stated that while he was ‘shocked’ by the questions he was asked by Praneeth and his team during promotions, he didn’t ‘want to make a scene’.

Kartikeya wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “And yes i should not have been part of it, I had to do the interview as one of the job responsibilities as a lead actor trying to make his film reach to wider audience but i had no intentions of encouraging such content but sadly i had to be part of it and i feel bad for that, Here on i will be really careful on who am giving interviews to and lets all together not encourage such content.”

Sudheer apologised for casting Praneeth in his recent film Harom Hara, claiming he had no ‘knowledge’ of the ‘pathetic creature this man’ was and stating that he ‘feel(s) so disgusted’. He added, “I couldn't even dare to go through the entirety social media has exposed about him. Those things are not even worth our puke but they should have our attention at this hour. We should make sure these sick minds shouldn't have a platform for the filth they wanna spread. This isn't freedom of speech by any means.”

The issue

Sai was the first actor from Tollywood to raise his voice against a ‘joke’ Praneeth made while talking in a live session with other YouTubers. People were miffed when he crossed a line while discussing a reel, alluding to incestuous abuse between a father and his young daughter. Praneeth grew to fame by making off-colour ‘jokes’ and Tollywood actors have often collaborated with him while promoting their films in the past.

Meanwhile, Adivi Sesh requested people not to share the video of Praneeth to curb its circulation on the internet. He wrote on X, “Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that people would be capable of such horrible things. It’s clear that the highest ministers of the two states have been notified of this, and I hope they will take strict action. Meanwhile, I REQUEST not to continue sharing that video or their other videos while discussing/tweeting what happened.”

Telangana DGP Ravi Gupta shared on X that an FIR has been filed on Praneeth at the Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB).